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| Europe |
| New Zealand Airbus Crashes Off French Coast |
| 2008-11-27 |
* Plane on test flight after maintenance * Plunges into Mediterranean Sea * Official says there's no hope of survivors AN Air New Zealand passenger jet has plunged into the Mediterranean Sea off France, with officials saying there is no hope that any of the seven people on board survived. The wreck of the Airbus A320 has been located off the southern city of Perpignan, where it had been undergoing maintenance. Rescuers found the bodies of two crew members, but five others were missing this morning. However, Dominique Alzeari, assistant prosecutor at Perpignan, said there was "no hope of finding survivors". The plane was on a flight to check that it was operating normally when it fell from the sky, said other officials in Perpignan. A surveillance plane, two rescue helicopters and five ships were scouring the seas around the crash site 3.5 nautical miles (2.5km) from the shore. Five of those on the plane were from New Zealand and the two pilots were German. The aircraft was owned by Air New Zealand but had been on lease to XL Airways for the past two years. Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the aircraft was being flown by XL Airways to Frankfurt where it was due to be handed back to Air New Zealand. Today is the 29th anniversary of Air New Zealand's biggest disaster, when Flight TE901 crashed into Mt Erebus while on a scenic trip over Antarctica. All 257 people on board died. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |